Introduction to The Pearl

Summary of the pearl, major themes in the pearl, major characters in the pearl, writing style of the pearl‎, analysis of literary devices in the pearl, related posts:, post navigation.

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Essay Samples on The Pearl

Imagery and character analysis in the pearl.

In the very beginning of the book, Kino watches as his son, Coyotio sleeps. While he is sleeping, Coyotito is stung by a scorpion despite Kino’s efforts to catch it and kill it. They go to the doctor to get Kino treated for the sting...

  • Character Analysis
  • Imagery in Literature

The Theme Of Group Behavior In The Pearl By John Steinbeck

The article is a study exploring the pattern of group activity in John The Pearl's novel. There's a major influence on other individuals from Stein show group behavior. We are the long-term basis of human life. Steinbeck's group-man theory is based on Darwinian interpretation of...

  • John Steinbeck

Theme of Greed in John Steinbeck’s Novel The Pearl and Jack London's Story A Piece of Steak

In John Steinbeck’s realistic fiction novel, The Pearl, Kino drastically changes his life when he finds a pearl of great value. Local authors, Jack London and John Steinbeck, both use greed, murder, and poverty in different ways to express their themes. Greed is a theme...

John Steinbeck's The Pearl Through the Prism of New Formalism

Using the New Formalism as a lens to analyze Pearls, the reader can see that Steinbeck uses images, symbols and music to develop a theme according to which luck can lead people with good intentions to the path of evil and negative. In modern society,...

  • The New Deal

John Steinbeck: Literary Works, Life and People Who Inspired Him

Recurring Ideas in Of Mice and Men, Travels With Charley, and The Pearl The Desire to Escape One recurring theme that is displayed in Of Mice and Men, Travels With Charley, and The Pearl is the desire to escape, which causes the characters to venture...

  • Literature Review

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Best topics on The Pearl

1. Imagery And Character Analysis In The Pearl

2. The Theme Of Group Behavior In The Pearl By John Steinbeck

3. Theme of Greed in John Steinbeck’s Novel The Pearl and Jack London’s Story A Piece of Steak

4. John Steinbeck’s The Pearl Through the Prism of New Formalism

5. John Steinbeck: Literary Works, Life and People Who Inspired Him

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by John Steinbeck

The pearl study guide.

John Steinbeck wrote The Pearl during the time in which he was at the height of his fame. He had completed The Grapes of Wrath , for which he won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction and was renowned and reviled as a subversive, unpatriotic man who threatened the national interest through the socialist themes of his novels. This view of Steinbeck was inconsistent with his soft-spoken nature, but by 1944, when Steinbeck began to write The Pearl, Steinbeck had come to reconcile this aspect of his fame.

Steinbeck wrote The Pearl based on his personal convictions, and based the story on the biblical parable of a ?pearl of great price.' In this story, a jewel for which the merchant trades everything he owns becomes the metaphor for Heaven. Everything in the merchant's earthly existence, however, becomes worthless when compared to the joys of living with God in Heaven. However, Steinbeck uses the parable as a meditation on the American dream of success. Steinbeck, who himself had risen quickly to prosperity, explores how Kino , the protagonist of The Pearl, deals with his newfound prominence in the community and riches.

Steinbeck found a second inspiration for The Pearl in the tale of a young Mexican boy told in Steinbeck's Sea of Cortez. However, the boy in the original form of the story wished to use the pearl to buy clothing, alcohol and sex. The story contains several similar plot points, including the rapacious dealers and the attacks on the boy to find the pearl, that would recur in the story's final form.

The Pearl derives much of its force from the descriptions of the impoverished lifestyle of the Mexicans of La Paz, the location of the story. The plight of the impoverished is a consistent theme in Steinbeck's work, including The Grapes of Wrath and Of Mice and Men . Although these novels dealt with white protagonists, Steinbeck turned to the plight of Mexicans for The Pearl based on the 1942 and 1943 Zoot Suit Race Riots in Los Angeles.

By the time that Steinbeck wrote The Pearl, he had gained an interest in writing screenplays, and thus wrote the novel in a form suitable for easy adaptation to film. The story has a simple plot structure and an economy of characters, but unlike The Grapes of Wrath, Of Mice and Men, and East of Eden , Steinbeck did not adapt The Pearl. Instead, Steinbeck focused on screenplays written originally for the screen for his subsequent works.

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The Pearl Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for The Pearl is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

-other pearl divers

-rest of the people in village

What does Kino mean by, “This pearl has become my soul. “If I give it up I shall lose my soul…” Do you agree with him?

Kino allows the pearl to consume his life at the expense of everything else he holds dear. Do I agree with him? Money is nothing when compared with the people who love you...... absolutely not.

describe the setting of the novel "The Pearl"

The setting is a Mexican coastal village called La Paz, probably on the Baja Peninsula. The time is not mentioned although many feel it looks like the late 18th ot early 19th century.

Study Guide for The Pearl

The Pearl study guide contains a biography of John Steinbeck, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

  • About The Pearl
  • The Pearl Summary
  • The Pearl Video
  • Character List
  • Chapter 1 Summary and Analysis

Essays for The Pearl

The Pearl literature essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of The Pearl.

  • The Pearl versus The Secret River
  • The Pearl: Symbolism Analysis
  • A Dollar Cannot Buy a Smile: Riches vs. Happiness in 'The Pearl'
  • Women as a Voice of Reason in John Steinbeck’s “The Pearl”
  • An Analysis of Imagery and Mood in John Steinbeck’s “The Pearl”

Lesson Plan for The Pearl

  • About the Author
  • Study Objectives
  • Common Core Standards
  • Introduction to The Pearl
  • Relationship to Other Books
  • Bringing in Technology
  • Notes to the Teacher
  • Related Links
  • The Pearl Bibliography

Wikipedia Entries for The Pearl

  • Introduction

the pearl essays by john steinbeck

the pearl essays by john steinbeck

John Steinbeck

Ask litcharts ai: the answer to your questions.

Welcome to the LitCharts study guide on John Steinbeck's The Pearl . Created by the original team behind SparkNotes, LitCharts are the world's best literature guides.

The Pearl: Introduction

The pearl: plot summary, the pearl: detailed summary & analysis, the pearl: themes, the pearl: quotes, the pearl: characters, the pearl: symbols, the pearl: theme wheel, brief biography of john steinbeck.

The Pearl PDF

Historical Context of The Pearl

Other books related to the pearl.

  • Full Title: The Pearl
  • When Written: 1944
  • Where Written: California
  • When Published: 1947
  • Literary Period: Modernist novel
  • Genre: Novella/ Parable
  • Setting: La Paz, Baja California Sur
  • Climax: Kino’s beating of Juana and his killing of a man in protection of the pearl
  • Point of View: Third person (from the perspective of the villagers who pass down the tale through generations)

Extra Credit for The Pearl

From Kino to Kino. It is assumed that Kino was named after Eusebius Kino, a Jesuit missionary who explored the Gulf region in the 17th century.

From Film to Fiction. Steinbeck wrote The Pearl on an invitation from Emilio Fernandez, a well-known Mexican filmmaker, to write a screenplay depicting Mexican life. In consequence, The Pearl features few characters, simple and intense action, and cinematic viewpoints.

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John Steinbeck

  • Literature Notes
  • Source of The Pearl
  • Book Summary
  • About The Pearl
  • Character List
  • Summary and Analysis
  • Character Analysis
  • Introduction
  • The Doctor and the Priest
  • John Steinbeck Biography
  • Critical Essays
  • A General Critical Approach
  • Essay Questions
  • Cite this Literature Note

Critical Essays Source of The Pearl

In his prose work The Sea of Cortez, a work which describes Steinbeck's and Ed Rickett's explorations in the Gulf of California, Steinbeck reports a story that he heard in the lower California Peninsula; it was reported as a true story occurring in "La Paz in recent years." Steinbeck writes:

An Indian boy, by accident, found a pearl of great size, an unbelievable pearl. He knew its value was so great that he need never work again. In this one pearl he had the ability to be drunk as long as he wished, to marry any one of a number of girls, and to make many more a little happy too. In his great pearl lay salvation, for he could in advance purchase masses sufficient to pop him out of purgatory like a squeezed watermelon seed. In addition, he could shift a number of dead relatives a little nearer to Paradise.

The original story continues by pointing out how every pearl buyer to whom he tried to sell the pearl offered such a small price that the young Indian finally refused to sell the pearl and, instead, hid it under a rock. For two nights in a row, the young man was attacked and beaten. Then, on the third night, he was ambushed and tortured, but still he refused to reveal the whereabouts of the Pearl of the World. Finally, after careful planning, he "skulked like a hunted fox to the beach," removed the pearl from its hiding place and threw it back into the Gulf.

As with other great writers, notably Shakespeare, who took all of his plots or stories from other sources, it is not the source itself that is so important as it is what Steinbeck does with his sources. The above legend is the bare outline, but we should notice all of the significant changes that Steinbeck makes. First, the simplicity of the above parable is made much more complicated in Steinbeck's novel. Instead of having an irresponsible boy who will use the pearl principally for the seduction of young girls and for whimsical prayers for relatives in Purgatory, Steinbeck changes the boy into a father and a husband, a man who sees in the pearl the opportunity to buy an education for his son and thus free him from the bonds that he and his family have always lived under. Furthermore, the other dreams — being married in the church, baptism for their son, new tools to help Kino in his trade, etc., — contrast sharply to the youth in the anecdote.

Whereas the young Indian boy is a simple, flat character, Steinbeck takes the character, gives him a name (Kino) that is based upon a seventeenth-century missionary (who was considered a great man, as the priest points out), and Steinbeck endows him with all of the primitive but human characteristics befitting the hero of a parable such as The Pearl. In addition, Steinbeck expands upon his story by the addition of all types of supporting characters — the brother, the priest, the trackers, and, most important, Juana. Steinbeck does, however, retain the pearl buyers, who become forces which are aligned to others with the intent to destroy Kino.

Thus, while Steinbeck begins his story with a simple folk story, he takes the basic situation and, using all sorts of illusions from Western literature, he enriches the basic story and adds various symbolic levels of meaning to it.

Previous John Steinbeck Biography

Next A General Critical Approach

the pearl essays by john steinbeck

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Critical Insights: The Pearl, by John Steinbeck

This book in the critical insights series explores the many factors that have made steinbeck’s short novel so enduringly appealing, examining the history of the work’s critical reception while also contributing new insights that have not been pursued before. the present volume examines the book from numerous perspectives – historical, cultural, social, economic, ethnic, and literary. .

John Steinbeck’s The Pearl is one of the most popular and most frequently taught of all American novellas. Although it began its life as a brief parable, an allegorical novella about a poor fisherman finding a pearl, becoming greedy, and subsequently suffering a job-like loss, it has remained in the literary conversation for nearly three-quarters of a century for reasons that seem to exceed its original goals. Its Mexican setting, in a location not far from California, gives it a particular interest today as the United States becomes increasingly multicultural. 

For all these reasons and more, this latest contribution to the  Critical Insights  series may be of special interest to many readers. A collection of four critical context essays are intended to treat Steinbeck's novella: 

  • From a historical vantage point
  • In terms of its critical reception
  • Using a specific critical lens
  • By comparing and contrasting it with other important works

The  Critical Contexts  section opens with an essay by Melinda Knight that discusses Steinbeck's vision of Mexico in the context of  The Pearl.  This is followed by a survey of critical reception, also by Melinda Knight, and an essay by Kyler Campbell, closely and critically examining Steinbeck's work. James Plath closes this section by using a comparative approach to continue the discussion on  The Pearl,  particularly in comparison to Hemingway's  The Old Man and the Sea . 

The  Critical Readings  section of this book contains the following essays:

  • Of Mollusks and Men: An Ecocritical Approach to The Pearl , Lowell Wyse
  • "This Is the  Whole" : Ecological Thinking in John Steinbeck's  The Pearl , Christopher Bowman
  • Steps to a Littoral Ecology: Community and Nature in John Steinbeck's  The Pearl , Michael Zeitler
  • The Song of Inequality: Sickness and Wealth in Steinbeck's  The Pearl , Jericho Williams
  • "The Detachment of God": A Theopoetic Reading of Steinbeck's  The Pearl , Kelly C. MacPhail
  • Surrendering: Steinbeck's  The Pearl  as an Artistic Failure, John J. Han
  • Who Stole Kino's Cheese? Socioeconomic Determinism in  The  Pearl , Arun Khevariya
  • The Portrayal of "Poverty People" in John Steinbeck's  The Pearl  and  Tortilla Flat , Emily P. Hamburger
  • A Comparative Exploration of Devaluation of Women, Ownership, and Violence in John Steinbeck's  The Chrysanthemums  and  The Pearl , Elisabeth Bayley
  • Culture, Identity, and Otherness: An Analysis of Kino's Songs in John Steinbeck's  The Pearl  and Pilate's Melody in Toni Morrison's  Song of Solomon , Tammie Jenkins

In the final section,  Resources , a Chronology of John Steinbeck's Life and a list of other Works by John Steinbeck are provided. Also included in this volume is a  Bibliography , biographies of the  Editor  and  Contributors , and an alphabetical  Index .

The  Critical Insights Series distills the best of both classic and current literary criticism of the world's most-studied literature. Edited and written by some of academia's most distinguished literary scholars,  Critical Insights: The Pearl  provides authoritative, in-depth scholarship that students and researchers will rely on for years. This volume is destined to become a valuable purchase for all. 

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the pearl essays by john steinbeck

Critical Insights: Of Mice and Men

With an array of contributions by leading Steinbeck scholars, Critical Insights: Of Mice and Men provides a rich array of fresh perspectives and valuable information on this short but beloved text. Essay topics include: the masculine psyche, alienation, and the plight of migrants, and consideration of why this novel is still in high school curriculums today.

the pearl essays by john steinbeck

October 2010

Critical Insights: The Grapes of Wrath

This volume in the Critical Insights series brings together a variety of new, classic, and contemporary essays on this major American novel.

the pearl essays by john steinbeck

Critical Insights: John Steinbeck

This volume in the Critical Insights series brings together a variety of classic and contemporary essays on this American author. In-depth critical discussions of his life and works - Plus complimentary, unlimited online access to the full content of this great literary reference.

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By John Steinbeck

'The Pearl' by John Steinbeck is easily the most delightful novella in American Literature. It is a small volume with great lessons narrated with splendid oratory.

Israel Njoku

Article written by Israel Njoku

Degree in M.C.M with focus on Literature from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka.

A book over fifty pages long but packed with strong themes , symbols, and characters, is no easy feat, but John Steinbeck pulled it off with ‘ The Pearl .’

A Conflict of Classification

One of the remarkable things about John Steinbeck’s story of ‘ The Pearl’ is its attempt at combining the novella form and the parable form. By its short length, its focus on the internal life of the character, and its intermittent lyricism, it qualifies as a novella. But its shallow characters, who often have simplistic ideas of good and evil, coupled with its dominantly conversational style, also qualify it as a parable.

A parable is a short moralistic tale usually passed down by word of mouth from generation to generation. And as the narrator observes in the introductory statement of the novel if the story indeed is a parable, then it is open to multiple interpretations, and anyone can take their meaning from it and read their own life into it. But this attempt at merging the form of the novella and the parable comes at a cost to the final output. ‘ The Pearl,’ therefore, does not fully blossom either into the full potential of the novella form or of the parable form.

Depth in Brevity

The book is just about eighty-something pages long and broken into pretty short chapters.  Its presentation of the characters is equally short and uncomplicated, and the alternate rhythms of the Song of the Family and the Song of the Enemy that plays out in Kino’s psyche now and again suggest that the protagonist is not, after all, lacking in psychological depth altogether. The descriptions of the setting are also fairly vibrant and thus are indicative of literary quality rather than the ordinariness of a parable.

Dichotomy of Characterization

The characters in ‘ The Pearl’ tend to be superficial, and easily fit into one of either patterns of being good or evil; good and evil being the two opposite forces driving the conflict at the heart of the story. There are, on the one hand, characters who are on the benevolent side of good, dignified in their simple primitive life, attuned to nature, and devotedly working humbly to extract from nature their daily sustenance. Then there are the characters on the malevolent side of evil who try to exploit the first, by bringing oppression, destruction, and ultimately death.

In the camp of good are Kino and his friends and family. They are mostly humble pearl divers and fishermen who have to go out daily to negotiate their existence, material sustenance, and survival with nature. And if they happen to chance on a particularly good fortune upon any day, they count it extremely lucky. This is evident in Kino and his family and friends’ reactions to his discovery of a big pearl. Before this, Kino’s family was content and cordial, the beautiful Song of the Family filling everybody’s heart with immense peace and a sense of fulfilment.

Between Kino and his wife, Juana, there is barely any use of words. They appear to not need words to be able to communicate. Their communication is organic, innocent, and full of innate mutual understanding.

On the other hand, there is the camp of evil. This is where the pearl dealers, the doctor, and the priest belong. This camp represents a world that is in direct opposition to that of Kino and his people. There seems to be a huge chasm between these two worlds that cannot be breached. As a result, there is no real communication between them. The camp of evil is just out to oppress, exploit, and destroy the camp of good.

A Tragic Story

The tension and conflict which drive the plot of ‘ The Pearl ‘ are by reason of the two camps of good and evil being brought in contact with each other. And it is significant that the dominant imagery of this coming together is that of predation.

One of the most remarkable instances of this predation is Kino’s dealings with the doctor. When Kino’s son Coyotito had been bitten by a scorpion, it suddenly dawns on him how helpless he is in the general order of things as there is nothing he can do directly to help his ailing son. So it is in an act of extreme desperation and overriding love for his son’s welfare that he turns to the doctor for help.

The doctor, at this moment, represented to him a hope that he could not offer his son by himself.  But when he reaches out to the doctor, he realizes that the chasm between his world and the doctors cannot be breached. This is signified by the doctor’s refusal to treat his son unless he can pay for the doctor’s services. In other words, Kino finds out that the only modality of relationship there can be between him and the doctor is that of prey and predator. So long as the doctor can get some exploitative value out of him, they have a meeting point. Otherwise, there can be nothing between them.

Kino rages against this unbridgeable chasm now and again and finds that his efforts can only be futile. It is partly out of this rage that he goes diving on the day he comes into the fortune or misfortune of finding the Pearl of the World. He tries once again to get away from his world into the other by selling the pearl and finds that try as hard as he may; there is no getting away for him. This is one of the dimensions of tragedy in the story, in that sense of a character being trapped in a situation where no matter what the character does, it can only bring disaster.

Who is the narrator in ‘ The Pearl ‘?

In John Steinbeck’s ‘ The Pearl,’ the narration is from a third-person omniscient point of view. This means that the narrator is not one of the characters in the story but knows everything going on with the characters, including their inner thoughts.

What is the irony in Coyotito’s death?

The irony in Coyotito’s death is that he is the motivation behind Kino and Juana’s seeking of the pearl and their quest to use it to better their fortunes. However, the same pearl ends up becoming part of the reasons for his death.

What age is ‘ The Pearl ‘ suitable for?

‘ The Pearl ‘ by John Steinbeck is recommended as suitable for readers who are fourteen years old and above. This is because, while the legend-like oration and the brevity of the book might appeal to children, the graphic depictions of violence and killing in the book are not suitable for children.

What genre of literature is ‘The Pearl’ ?

‘The Pearl’  by John Steinbeck can be classified as both a novella and a parable. With its short length, its focus on the interior life of the characters, and its intermittent lyricism, it definitely qualifies as a novella. But it is rather shallow characters, who commonly have simplistic ideas of good and evil, coupled with its dominantly conversational style, also qualify it as a parable. A parable is a short moralistic tale commonly passed down by word of mouth from generation to generation.

 Is ‘The Pearl’ by John Steinbeck a political book?

While ‘The Pearl’ is a work of fiction, the storytelling has a commentary and critique of the political and religious affairs of Mexico of the era and how these realities affect individuals and the society collectively. Therefore, it can be regarded as a political book.

'The Pearl' Review

The Pearl by John Steinbeck Book Cover

Book Title: The Pearl

Book Description: 'The Pearl' is a memorable, brief novella by Steinbeck, rich with parable and critique, offering a universal appeal and deep interpretive potential, set against a vivid 19th-century Mexican backdrop.

Book Author: John Steinbeck

Book Edition: First Edition

Book Format: Hardcover

Publisher - Organization: Viking Press

Date published: March 17, 1947

ISBN: 978-0-14-017737-X

Number Of Pages: 254

  • Lasting Impact on the Reader

'The Pearl' Review

‘ The Pearl’ is a novella one can quickly finish during a lunch break, but never forget for the rest of one’s life.  It is both a parable and a socio-political critique with an endless possibility of interpretations by its readers.

The brevity of the volume gives it a universal reading appeal and the depth of the story makes room for personalized deductions for every reader. Although a tragic story, it is highly recommended for an enjoyable read.

The imagery is so powerful that it easily transports readers to the seaside of a small nineteenth-century Mexican neighborhood. 

  • Powerful Story
  • Tragic Ending

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Israel Njoku

About Israel Njoku

Israel loves to delve into rigorous analysis of themes with broader implications. As a passionate book lover and reviewer, Israel aims to contribute meaningful insights into broader discussions.

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  1. The Pearl (novella)

    The Pearl is a novella by the American author John Steinbeck.The story, first published in 1947, [citation needed] follows a pearl diver, Kino, and explores man's purpose as well as greed, defiance of societal norms, and evil.Steinbeck's inspiration was a Mexican folk tale from La Paz, Baja California Sur, Mexico, which he had heard in a visit to the formerly pearl-rich region in 1940.

  2. The Pearl by John Steinbeck Plot Summary

    The Pearl Summary. The Pearl takes place in a small village on the outskirts of La Paz, California. It begins in the brush house of Kino, Juana, and their baby, Coyotito, a family of Mexican Native Americans. In the midst of Kino and Juana's morning routine, Coyotito is stung by a scorpion that has fallen into his hanging box.

  3. The Pearl

    A short novelette, The Pearl, is considered a masterpiece of the phrase -coiner, John Steinbeck. The story was published in 1947. The story explores man's defiant behavior against accepted social conventions. It also is a perfect example of greed in human nature and the consequences.

  4. The Pearl by John Steinbeck Essay Samples for Students on

    The Theme Of Group Behavior In The Pearl By John Steinbeck. The article is a study exploring the pattern of group activity in John The Pearl's novel. There's a major influence on other individuals from Stein show group behavior. We are the long-term basis of human life. Steinbeck's group-man theory is based on Darwinian interpretation of...

  5. The Pearl : John Steinbeck : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming

    The Pearl is a novella by the American author John Steinbeck. The story, first published in 1947, follows a pearl diver, Kino, and explores man's purpose as well as greed, defiance of societal norms, and evil. [1] This is an ePub edition of the book. The Pearl is a novella by the American author John Steinbeck.

  6. The Pearl Study Guide

    John Steinbeck wrote The Pearl during the time in which he was at the height of his fame. He had completed The Grapes of Wrath, for which he won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction and was renowned and reviled as a subversive, unpatriotic man who threatened the national interest through the socialist themes of his novels.This view of Steinbeck was inconsistent with his soft-spoken nature, but by ...

  7. The Pearl Study Guide

    Steinbeck derived some aspects of The Pearl from his screenplay for the 1941 documentary, The Forgotten Village, which depicts the contentious coexistence of modern and folk medicine in a Mexican town.The novel's central plot, however, is based on the Mexican legend of a young boy who discovers a great pearl, which Steinbeck later narrated in his 1951 Log from the Sea of Cortez.

  8. Source of The Pearl

    Critical Essays Source of. The Pearl. In his prose work The Sea of Cortez, a work which describes Steinbeck's and Ed Rickett's explorations in the Gulf of California, Steinbeck reports a story that he heard in the lower California Peninsula; it was reported as a true story occurring in "La Paz in recent years." Steinbeck writes:

  9. The Pearl Essays and Criticism

    The Literal and Symbolic in The Pearl. Perhaps the most outspoken cntic of The Pearl has been Warren French, who criticized author John Steinbeck for using a traditional tale (the legend of the ...

  10. The Pearl Questions and Answers

    How are Kino and Juana compared in The Pearl by John Steinbeck? Describe the setting of John Steinbeck's The Pearl. Contrast the descriptions of the Doctor's house and Kino's house in The Pearl.

  11. The Pearl by John Steinbeck Essay

    The Pearl by John Steinbeck Essay. Many people in the world today grow crazy and mad when surrounded by even the slightest bit of wealth and good fortune. Even a strong person who recognizes their priorities can still become corrupt with too much power. There is no better example of a person falling into the path of evil and corruption than in ...

  12. Salem Press

    John Steinbeck's The Pearl is one of the most popular and most frequently taught of all American novellas. Although it began its life as a brief parable, an allegorical novella about a poor fisherman finding a pearl, becoming greedy, and subsequently suffering a job-like loss, it has remained in the literary conversation for nearly three-quarters of a century for reasons that seem to exceed ...

  13. Background from The Pearl

    Discover the Background of The Pearl by John Steinbeck with bartleby's free Literature Guides. Our cover-to-cover analysis of many popular classic and contemporary titles examines critical components of your text including: notes on authors, background, themes, quotes, characters, and discussion questions to help you study.

  14. The Pearl by John Steinbeck

    The Pearl by John Steinbeck Poverty, greed, sorrow This book was incredibly strong in its ability to make readers ponder upon their own lives by pushing the limits of issues like poverty. A very fast-paced story that involved a man's family into conflict once he found a precious item that could solve all his problems but that item only ended up creating new ones.

  15. The Pearl: A Compact Masterpiece of Morality

    Book Title: The Pearl Book Description: 'The Pearl' is a memorable, brief novella by Steinbeck, rich with parable and critique, offering a universal appeal and deep interpretive potential, set against a vivid 19th-century Mexican backdrop. Book Author: John Steinbeck Book Edition: First Edition Book Format: Hardcover Publisher - Organization: Viking Press Date published: March 17, 1947

  16. The Pearl-John Steinbeck: Unveiling Symbolic Depths

    The pearl, a central symbol in the story, undergoes a transformation from a beacon of hope to a harbinger of destruction, delving into the corrosive nature of greed. This essay explores how Steinbeck employs symbolism to unravel the themes of greed, oppression, and the intricate connection between humanity and the natural world.